We Do!

It's official: I'm married! On Saturday, September 27th, Josh and I exchanged vows in a small, intimate ceremony surrounded by our immediate family. It was absolutely perfect!

You’re going to need a comfy chair and coffee, this is a short novel…

As the big day approached, I actually found myself becoming less stressed and more relaxed, which I'm pretty sure shocked my family since I am a control freak with anxiety! I think I even surprised myself! I'm not sure why I was so calm, maybe I figured I had planned as best as possible so the day would unfold as it should regardless of how much I fussed over it. And boy did things sure have a plan of their own!

Friday morning Josh and I ran around picking up last minute things like flowers and food for our family dinner before my parents, older sister, and niece arrived that afternoon. Some of my family wasn’t scheduled to arrive until the next morning, but this at least gave us a chance to get together to go over some of the logistics of the day before the big rush. Despite the casual nature of our wedding, we still wanted to keep some traditional aspects like Josh and I not staying together our last night. Saying goodbye to him that night really set things in motion and made this whole mystical wedding seem like an actual reality! Next time I would see him would be as I walked down the aisle at the chapel!

Originally I had planned on attending my usual yoga class on Saturday morning, but instead decided to take a walk with my niece and Ricky in our jammies to pick up some coffee. And because I love baking, I figured I should pass the morning time by baking muffins for my family. This is normal, right?! Honestly, it was such a low-key, calm morning that felt just like any regular day minus the fact that I was surrounded by my family and there was a wedding gown hanging in the closet ready to be worn in just a few short hours! While I baked, my mom and older sister made my bouquet which turned out beautifully. My mom also made my older sister’s bouquet and will make my little sister’s in less than two months so it’s a bit of a tradition that I really like. We also got the succulents ready for the amazing cakes my friends Nikki and Matt made for our reception. (Not gonna lie, I pretty much ate the entire main cake…by myself. I have no shame!)

With the floral situation in check and my muffins baked, it was time to get my hair did. It wasn’t until after I left the salon with my fancy ‘do that it really started to hit me that today was not just a regular Saturday. I was soon to be a married woman! Also, there was soon to be a big storm headed right toward us. They say rain on your wedding day is good luck, so I figured this had to be some extra kind of luck! And perhaps I should have taken those big black clouds and my good friend/photographer’s ‘I’m going to be a little late, have to wait out the storm’ text as a bit of foreshadowing for the evening, but I just wasn’t going to let it get to me. What could I do about it anyway?!

Up until this point everything had been calm and slow paced around the house, with everyone passing the time nonchalantly. But it was go time once I got home since we needed to leave in just over an hour to get to the chapel. It was also go time for the storm as the streets began to flood, lightning cracked, and the thunder shook the house. Extra good luck, right?! There was something really special about having my family all around me getting ready to share in mine and Josh’s big day. The love inside that house was palpable. My sisters, niece, and I crowded into my bathroom to get all dolled up which made me feel like I was back in high school getting ready. And then to see my parents looking so gorgeous, that made my stomach flutter! Everything and everyone started to come together and despite the storm outside, it was time to make a Mrs.

As we pulled out of our neighborhood to head to the chapel, Josh called to ask where we were because sure enough, he and his family were right behind us! A couple covert maneuvers later by my dad and the coast was clear! Once we got to the chapel, my dad, photographer (Marcos), and I waited in the bridal room while our family waited for the ceremony to start. I was able to maintain composure all day, up until the point Marcos directed me to look at my dad while he set up a shot. My dad gave me the sweetest wink and I just lost it! Suddenly I felt the reality of the day and my emotions got to me. I could hear everyone chatting around the corner and my nerves started to settle in. Thank goodness I had my dad’s hand to hold! Also, thank goodness for smart phones because the disc with my entrance song wouldn’t play; another small hiccup diverted.

The moment “Marry Me” by Train began to play, my heart sunk into my feet. Shut the front door, sh*t is about to go down! My niece (who I may have bribed with a goodie bag for good behavior) began her well practiced walk down the aisle holding our ring box, and shortly after my dad and I rounded the corner to see everyone staring back at us. My heart sunk even more when I saw Josh standing there, staring back at me full of emotions. His face was priceless. If there is one moment I take away from that day, it is that look and the happiness we both felt at that moment. The ceremony itself was short but sweet, complete with our own vows and a rushed “I do” from one anxious bride! We had to remember to keep our knees bent because I’m certain one of us would have passed out from the excitement and nerves. It is overwhelming and emotional, but all in a good way.

Following the ceremony, we took family photos in the brief respite of rain which made for an amazing sky in the background. Marcos whisked the Mr. and I away to take our portraits downtown while our family went back to our house to pick up the cakes and decorations for the reception. As I was oohing and ahhing over the gorgeous sky en route to downtown, I noticed I had a voicemail from the owner of the reception venue. Remember that big storm and Marcos’ ominous text? Yup, that storm wreaked havoc in the downtown area resulting in a loss of power. At our venue. With no idea of when it’d be restored. You can only laugh at this point, so that’s exactly what we did. Since the owner said the show could go on, and since we had planned on having dinner by candlelight anyway, we decided to make the best of it. Plus, there was no Plan B! We continued on to do our portraits and even stopped at my favorite downtown coffee stop, Songbird, to get a drink because picking up coffee in your wedding gown is completely normal. Also, I left my phone there because I’m having a bad phone streak lately.

Our dinner was delicious just as we knew it’d be and you could tell everyone was hungry since not a word was uttered for ten minutes after the main course was served! Given the lack of power and visibility, we didn’t get to set up some of our special touches, but at the end of the night, we got exactly what we wanted. We still had a wonderful meal surrounded by our family, we got to dance our first song together (“Mine Would Be You” by Blake Shelton) and had the traditional father/daughter and mother/son dance (although by phone speaker since there was no power for our ipod), and we got to cut our delicious (despite the sweat) cake. It was imperfectly perfect and I wouldn’t have had it any other way. Not gonna lie, though, air conditioning would have been nice!

Since we don’t plan on taking our honeymoon until next year, we opted to spend a couple nights at our favorite resort to relax and enjoy some time away. Despite being obnoxiously sick with a head cold on Sunday, I still got to enjoy my bloody mary and shrimp cocktail by the pool that I had been looking forward to almost as much as I was looking forward to getting married! I kid, sort of. Next year we also plan on having a big bash to celebrate with all of our extended family and friends since we wanted this day to be a small, intimate, immediate family only affair. Not because we didn’t want everyone we love to not share in our special day, but because our budget and anxiety wouldn’t accommodate all the people we love without sacrifices we weren’t willing to make. In the end, it’s probably a good thing there were only 11 people suffering in the muggy indoor weather and not 100!

I’ll have our surely gorgeous images by our photographer to share in the coming weeks, so stay tuned for those gems.

xo Mrs. DeWyke

Wedding Planning || Engagement Shots

Firstly, an update to my last post: It was only a few short weeks ago that I shouted from the rooftop about our new home purchase.  The excitement radiating from Josh and I was off the charts.  Then we got a call from our lender the following Saturday apologizing for his oversight of one very important factor that would have immediately disqualified us from being eligible for the USDA loan.  From the very first moment.  Somehow, despite the mounds of paperwork we were required to sign and the back and forth crunching numbers, it was missed that our household income exceeds the income cap mandated by the USDA loan program.  We had no idea and were absolutely crushed by this news.  The only reason we were buying a house to begin with was because of this Godsend of a program.  So long story short, we won't be purchasing a home after all.  Womp womp.

In happier news, it occurred to me after sharing some images with Josh's family a couple weeks ago that I never published any of our engagement images.  Oops!  An engagement session wasn't really a priority for us but we needed something to include on our save the date postcards so we set out on way too hot afternoon with a tripod and remote in hand to take something that would be decent enough to use.  It was a lot of trial and error but we ended up with a few keepers and some great bloopers, also!  We shot at two different locations near our house: an empty Potato Barn warehouse and the garden walkway of my favorite neighborhood where my favorite coffee shop is, so name The Coffee Shop.  More on that goodness another day. We decided on the shot above.

BIG News!

Remember last year when I was stressing about finding a new rental and vowed never to move during the holidays again?  Well, I one upped myself.  Josh and I bought a house (new build) this past weekend and are scheduled to close, and therefore move, the weekend before our wedding.  That's right, we're crazy and are moving at one of the most chaotic times possible.  If you're counting, that's 6 weeks til we move and 7 weeks til we say I do!  I need coffee and chocolate just thinking about it.

Last year, after being disappointed by several offers that fell through, we decided to give up on buying a home and deal with renting until the right opportunity came up.  Apparently that right opportunity was this weekend and definitely out of the blue.  Saturday started like any regular Saturday with my morning power yoga class followed by running errands.  While in Target (surprise!) Josh calls asking if I got a message from his mom because he thought she was spamming him.  As it turns out, his mom had visited the grand opening for a new development literally right next to her neighborhood in Queen Creek and thought we might be interested.  They offer the USDA loan program so we thought it might be worth checking it out.  FYI, the USDA loan does not require any money down as an incentive for home buyers to purchase in agricultural areas.  Since we gave up on buying a home, we put our savings toward our wedding which made this loan that much more enticing.

We walked the models, looked at the spec houses which are scheduled to be completed next month, and designed a new build to compare pricing.  Walking away, we pretty much decided that this was our opportunity to be homeowners, all we needed was to wait until the next morning to get more definitive numbers from the lender.  Sunday morning we woke up to good news so we decided to grab brunch then head back to the builder's office and review everything just to be sure this really was the right decision for us and not just a hasty move.  As it turns out, we hadn't taken into account a potential change for me (more on that another day) that could hinder us if we went with the option to build entirely from scratch.  Because of this timing, we reviewed the spec house again that was nearly identical to what we would have chosen, minus a few more fancy details.  This home would be completed next month, would allow for us to cash in on the USDA loan, and would only increase our payment minimally.  After more number crunching and a couple nervous hours later, we were officially first time homeowners!

I remember when my parents built a house in Tucson when I was little and we would take family pictures in front to document the progress.  I'm so excited to do this with my (our) first home!  Since Josh's mom literally lives the next neighborhood over (we can see her house from ours!), she has been updating us with pictures daily.  In our excitement, we forgot to take pictures of our house, save a selfie, so I'm glad we have her to back us up.  We're hoping to sneak over when they pave the drive so we can carve our initials before it sets!

 
The excitement over our new purchase is coupled with a whole lot of anxiety over the to-do list for the next couple months!  There is so much to do in what feels like so little time.  On top of the usual moving tasks, we also need blinds and appliances.  Oh, and we need to continue planning our wedding all the while!  Not to mention my phone is on the fritz, my dress fitting is today, I have to travel to Tucson this weekend for my niece's birthday, and the list goes on and on!  I thrive in organized chaos so let's just hope this is no exception.